News Updates - May 6, 2009

Based on your feedback

We would like to say thank you to all who took the time to participate in our online Local Building Department Newsletter survey. Out of the 430 people we sent the survey to, we were pleased to hear from over 140 of you!

In response to the newsletter survey and in order to continue to provide regularly scheduled communication updates, the Local Building Department Newsletter (LBDN) schedule will be changing slightly. Rather than publishing the newsletter every two weeks, it will now be published on the first Wednesday of every month. If there is a need to send some quick updates, or provide information an additional update may be sent on the third Wednesday with information, if needed before the next regularly scheduled publication.

Other changes we are making to the newsletter include adding a new feature "Quick Links" that points you to important pages on our Web sites. The "Quick Links" section will also give you a link to the Newsletter Archives page and other useful resources. The archive provides you with a searchable list of the articles included in each past edition of the newsletter. Thank you for the suggestions and participation in the survey. We are always looking at ways to improve the newsletter-we want this publication to be a tool you will use.

Code committee updates

Currently there are three committees reviewing proposed commercial construction standards:
OSSC Code Committee
The OSSC committee's first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 12 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in conference room A at BCD's offices in West Salem. Meetings are open to the public or can be viewed live over the web. Please sign up if you are interested in receiving automatic updates on meetings and committee activities.

OMSC Code Committee
The OMSC committee's first meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 14 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in conference room A at BCD's offices in West Salem. Meetings are open to the public or can be viewed live over the web. Please sign up if you are interested in receiving automatic updates on meetings and committee activities.

Commercial Energy Conservation Committee
The Commercial Energy Conservation Committee (CEC) is reviewing the energy provisions for commercial standards, making recommendations to the division. The division will then prepare proposals to present to the appropriate advisory boards. The committee has been meeting since March 31. They have reviewed lighting issues and are now looking at issues concerning the building envelope. The next CEC meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13 in conference room A at BCD's offices in West Salem. Meetings are open to the public or can be viewed live over the web. Please sign up if you are interested in receiving automatic updates on meetings and committee activities.

If you would like to view any of these meetings live, at the respective meeting time go to the BCD Web site and click on the "view live meetings" link at the top of the page.

Plumbing board approves two new plumbing product standards

The Oregon State Plumbing Board at its regularly scheduled meeting on April 17, 2009, approved the IAPMO IGC 251-2008 Standard for Structural Adhesive Fitting Systems for Joining PVC, CPVC, ABS, PP, PE, PEX, and Copper. The request for approval of the standard came from Mueller Industries, Inc. which has recently developed a new copper fitting system using a structural epoxy adhesive for joining copper pipe used for potable hot and cold water distribution.

At the April meeting the board also approved the IAPMO IGC 210-2005 Standard for Chlorinated Poly [Vinyl Chloride] (CPVC) Pipe and Fittings for Limited Chemical Waste Drainage Systems. The request for approval of the standard was made by Charlotte Pipe and Foundry Company. The company manufactures a limited chemical CPVC waste
drainage system.

These approvals allow products listed by ANSI accredited third party listing agencies to use the new approved standards to be sold and installed in Oregon under the provisions of the 2008 Oregon Plumbing Specialty Code.

Enforcement

Summary of enforcement cases presented
to the Oregon State Plumbing Board
Summary report: These cases were resolved by the division's enforcement section without going to a contested case hearing. No action was required by the Oregon State Plumbing Board.
Final orders after hearing: These cases went to a contested case hearing. Each penalty assessment was reviewed and approved by the Oregon State Plumbing Board.

ePermitting

What Eugene thinks about electronic permitting
What do our local building departments think about electronic permitting? We took a minute to discuss online permitting with the City of Eugene. Here is a brief discussion of how ePermitting has helped Eugene and their customers with daily permit tasks.

The City of Eugene started using BCD's Quick Permits system in November of 2006. They had such a positive reaction from local contractors that they were able to convince Lane County and Springfield to sign up. This made it possible to offer the service regionally, allowing contractors needing permits from any of the three local governments to access them online. Staff in Eugene used this broader access as a talking point with contractors, both on the phone and at the counter, encouraging them to use online permitting when possible to make their lives easier. When contractors started using the online services, they were able to begin work right away, alleviating the need for a trip to the permitting office where they often had to wait in line and pay for parking. Even the contractors that used the fax service often had to wait 24 hours for a permit number before they could begin work. The ability to print the "authorization to begin work" online, saved time for both contractors and the jurisdiction. This has also helped streamline the process of entering the information into the permit tracking system and issuing the permit.

Eugene further improved their permit tracking system by allowing permits to be e-mailed to the contractors directly. As a result, online permitting has turned out to be a win-win situation for both Eugene and the contracting community. Because of the effort to adapt and change some of their process after moving to electronic permitting, Eugene has consistently been one of the highest volume Quick Permits jurisdictions in the state. They found it such a positive experience that they were one of the first jurisdictions to get in line for the full service ePermitting package.

Check up with Quick Permits jurisdictions
In the next couple of weeks members of the ePermitting team will be contacting all current Quick Permits jurisdictions to verify a few things such as: services offered, fees, e-mail addresses, and other information unique to each city or county. This is the final configuration step before we move Quick Permits jurisdictions to the new ePermitting basic system (See newsletter archives, March 11, 2009, Quick Permits is morphing to basic ePermitting services). An e-mail will be coming soon to verify each contact person and to give specifics on the verification process.

ePermitting team gives a sneak peak
The ePermitting team will be visiting the Oregon Permit Technicians Conference May 7. Members of the team will present a sneak peak of the basic services of the new ePermitting system. This will prepare the permit technicians from Quick Permit jurisdictions for the switch to ePermitting and will also let other permit techs see what the system can do. If you have any question contact Lori Graham at 503-373-7755 or lori.l.graham@state.or.us.